PRINTING AND LAMINATING

Abstract: Apparatus for producing a sequence of printed articles, characterised by means for storing a range of backgrounds for images to be printed on the articles, means for selecting a background from the range, means for establishing a sequence of foregrounds for said sequence of articles, means for combining the selected background with at least selected ones of the sequence of foregrounds and printing substantially simultaneously the selected background and the particular foreground required for the article on each article in turn.

Description: PRINTING AND LAMINATING This invention relates to a system for producing articles . It is known to print articles with a variety of colours in turn. It is an object of this invention to greatly improve the speed of production and the quality of the finished article. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for producing a sequence of printed articles, characterised by means for storing a range of backgrounds for images to be printed on the articles, means for selecting a background from the range, means for establishing a sequence of foregrounds for said sequence of articles, means for combining the selected background ith at least selected ones of the sequence of foregrounds and printing substantially simultaneously the selected background and the particular foreground required for the article on each article in turn. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method characterised by selecting a desired background to be printed, establishing a sequence of foregrounds to be printed in turn, and substantially simultaneously printing the selected background repetitively with the foregrounds in turn to produce a sequence of printed images all comprised of the selected background and respectively comprised of the foregrounds of the sequence. Owing to these two aspects of the present invention, it is possible efficiently to produce images with a relatively standard background but varied foregrounds. According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a laminated card, comprising advancing a first layer to a printing station, printing said first layer at one surface thereof, advancing said first layer and a second layer to a laminating station whereat said one surface faces said second layer, laminating said first and second layers, and severing from said laminate a section thereof including printed matter to provide said card, characterised in that the advancing of the first and second layers, the laminating and the severing are performed automatically. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for producing a laminated card, comprising a printing station whereat one surface of a first layer is to be printed, a laminating station whereat said first layer and second layers are to be laminated together with said one surface facing said second layer, and a severing means whereby a printed section of the laminate is severed from said laminate to provide said card, characterised in that the advancing of the first and second layers through the printing station and the laminating station and past the severing means is performed automaticall . Owing to these two aspects of the invention, it is possible to provide a relatively high-speed automatic system for producing laminated cards with internal printed matter. The stations may comprise a substrate feeding station, a printing station, a tacking station, a laminating station and a severing station. Alternatively, the printing station may be followed immediately by a combined laminating and severing station, whereby the system may be simplified significantly. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided printing apparatus, including a shaft a first portion of the peripheral surface of which is of circular-cylindrical form and around which portion a sheet to be printed extends during printing, characterised by a sheet-clamping device anchored to the shaft and extending along the shaft at a second peripheral surface portion of the shaft angularly displaced around the axis of the shaft relative to said first portion, and drive means arranged to oscillate said shaft about its own axis . According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method comprising advancing an article to be printed to a printing station, and clamping the article to a support at said station, characterised by producing oscillatory relative motion between the support and a printing head to cause the article to undergo a plurality of printing passes at said station. Owing to these two aspects of the present invention, it is possible to ensure that the article remains securely clamped in the same relative position for a plurality of printing passes, thereby avoiding re-registration problems liable to arise if the article has to be re-clamped for a second or later printing pass. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided printing apparatus including a shaft at least a portion of the peripheral surface of which is of circular-cylindrical form and around which a substrate to be printed extends during printing, a printing head extending along said shaft and approximately tangentially to said portion of said peripheral surface and serving to present a die membrane to said substrate and drive means for turning said shaft about its own axis, characterised by a separator extending along said shaft between said shaft and said head and serving to keep said substrate and said membrane out of contact with each other until said substrate and said membrane arrive at the zone where said head approaches closest to said portion. This system is particularly advantageous in the case that the shaft is oscillatory, because the minimalized contact , virtually line contact , which can be obtained between the die membrane and the substrate, helps to avoid excessive tension in the die membrane . According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method comprising advancing a substrate to be printed and a die membrane towards a printing location, characterised by meanwhile keeping the substrate and the membrane separate until their bringing together at said printing location by separating means therebetween extending to just short of said printing location. Owing to these two aspects of the present invention, it is possible to avoid the substrate coming into contact with the die membrane and thereby risking scuffing or other damage to the die membrane by the substrate before the desired die transfer from the membrane to the substrate takes place. According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided laminating apparatus, comprising heating means for heating layers to be laminated, and first and second pressing heads for pressing the hot layers between them, characterised by external means arranged externally of said pressing heads and serving to prevent the laminate produced from remaining adhered to either of the pressing heads. Owing to this aspect of the present invention, it is possible to ensure that the laminating apparatus operates efficiently, without the laminate remaining adhered to one of the pressing heads, requiring an operator to pull the laminate away from the pressing head before it can be advanced therefrom. It is particularly advantageous if the means arranged externally of the pressing heads and serving to prevent the laminate from remaining adhered takes the form of one or more pairs of grippers. Such gripper(s) may advantageously be heated, to reduce the likely amount of relative expansion between the heated part of the laminate internally of the pressing heads and the part(s) of the laminate externally of the pressing heads. According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laminating method, comprising applying an overlay to a substrate, forming a laminate of said overlay and said substrate using compression of said overlay and said substrate, and severing from said overlay a substrate-covering portion in forming a card, characterised in that said substrate is substantially of finished card size when said overlay is applied thereto. Owing to this aspect of the invention, waste of substrate can be avoided or at least greatly reduced. According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laminating method, comprising laminating together first and second layers at a lamination station and severing a section of the laminate to provide a card, characterised in that said severing is also performed at said lamination station. According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided laminating apparatus, comprising, laminating means for laminating together first and second layers, and severing means for severing a section of the laminate to provide a card, characterised in that said laminating means and said severing means are at a station common to both. Owing to these two aspects of the invention, the rate of card production can be increased and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced. According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laminating method, comprising applying an overlay to a substrate, laminating said overlay and said substrate and severing from said overlay a substrate-covering portion of said overlay, characterised in that said substrate is not severed but instead acts as an anvil for said severing of said overlay. Owing to this aspect of the invention, it is possible to apply patches to substrates, such as cards. According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention there is provided a printing apparatus comprising a plurality of printing stations positioned in series along an intended path of an article to be printed characterised by a control device common to said plurality and electronically connected to said printing stations for actuating said heads simultaneously. According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention there is provided a printing apparatus, comprising at least one printing station, two data processors in parallel, to alternately receive and send data to said printing stations. Owing to these two aspects of the invention, card production is increased and the matter to be printed can be controlled electronically without limiting the speed of the overall process. According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for electronically controlled printing with data being adjusted by at least one filter. Owing to this aspect of the invention, the quality of the printed matter is greatly improved as mechanical, chemical and physical defects in the dye, substrate and/or printing head are corrected electronically. According to a seventeenth aspect of the invention there is provided a printing method comprising automatically advancing material to be printed through a series of printing stations characterised in that one of said stations prints a substance only visible to the naked human eye when the substance is irradiated by UV light. Owing to this aspect of the invention, UV data, particular or not to that printed matter, can be printed in the same process as all other printing. According to an eighteenth aspect of the invention there is provided a printing method comprising automatically advancing material to be printed through a series of printing stations characterised in that one of said stations prints an encodified mark particular to that material. Owing to this aspect of the invention, it is possible to check data against this encodified mark during printing or at a remote site during use of the printed matter. In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of an automatic printing and laminating system for producing laminated identity or other plastics cards. Figure 2 shows diagrammatically computer modules of the system, Figure 3 is a perspective view from above of a printing station of the system. Figure 4 is a diagrammatic axial elevation of the printing station. Figure 5 is a perspective view from above of a tacking station of the system. Figure 6 is a perspective view from above of a laminating station of the system. Figure 7 is a fragmentary side election of part of a modified version of the system, Figure 8 shows a section taken on the line VIII of Figure 7, Figure 9 is a diagram of an identity card production plant. Figure 10 shows one of five dry printing units of an image processor of the plant of Figure 9, Figure 11 shows a conceptual, module level diagram of primary processing equipment of the image processor, and Figure 12 shows a conceptual level diagram of data acquisition and processing in the primary processing equipment. Referring to the drawings, the system includes a feed hopper 1 for planar sheets S of PVC core material. A vacuum assembly (not shown) removes the core sheets S one-by-one from the hopper and registers them in turn onto two vertical location pins 2. An outboard edge of the core sheet S is clamped onto a first transport carriage 3, the pins 2 retracting. The carriage 3 advances to a printing station 4 including a horizontal shaft 5 oscillatable about its own axis A by motor 5A. A portion 5' of the peripheral surface of the shaft 5 is of circular-cylindrical form and subtends an angle of very roughly 250° at the axis A. Mounted at the remaining portion of the peripheral surface of the shaft 5 is a core sheet clamp 6 including a pneumatic cylinder 7 arranged to reciprocate a profiled clamping strip 8 serving to clamp the leading edge of the core sheet S at a consistent location on the surface portion 5', the strip 8 extending substantially the whole length of the shaft 5. Immediately above the shaft 5 is a print head assembly 9 including a die sublimation printing head 10 which extends substantially the whole length of the shaft 5 and is approximately tangential thereto. The assembly 9 is vertically reciprocable by means of an eccentric 11. Interposed between the upstream part of the printing head 10 and the shaft 5 is a separator plate 12 extending the length of the shaft 5. The plate 12 terminates short of the downstream part of the printing head 10. A die ribbon R is supplied from a roll 13 and taken up by a motor-driven roll 14. Along its length are discrete rectangular panels of yellow die, magenta die, and cyan die, with black registration marks. The separator plate 12 keeps the sheet S out of contact with the ribbon R until just before the substantially linear printing zone of the printing head 10. With the shaft 5 in an angular position wherein the clamping strip 8 occupies a position just downstream of the plate 12, the strip 8 receives and clamps the leading edge of the sheet S and moves the sheet S to a start print position, whereupon the assembly 9 lowers and printing head pressure is thereby applied. The ribbon drive motor and the shaft motor are energized and image data sent to the printing head 10 causes the transfer of die from the ribbon R onto the sheet S. On completion of the yellow pass, the printing head pressure is removed, the ribbon drive motor, controlled by mark sensors, pulls a magenta colour panel into position and the shaft motor moves the sheet S back to the start print position where the printing head pressure is reapplied. This process is repeated until three colours have been printed in register. Then the assembly 9 is raised, allowing the sheet S to be transferred and clamped onto a second transport carriage 15 and conveyed thereby into the tacking station 16 illustrated in Figure 5. Upon the first sheet S arriving at the tacking station 16, the second sheet S is received in the printing station 4. At the tacking station 16, there is a motor-driven feed roll 16A for PVC overlay 0 in roll form. The overlay feed motor is energized and the clamp of the carriage 15 is released. A measured length of overlay 0 is fed over the sheet S in the tacking station 16 and heated plungers 17 press the sheet S and the overlay 0 together under controlled pressure and time cycles. Once the sheet S and the overlay 0 are welded together in two places at the lower ends of the plungers 17, the clamp of the carriage 15 is re-applied and a guillotine motor 18 is energized to drive a guillotine 19 to cut the overlay 0 from driven feed rollers (not shown) in the tacking station, to provide a unit consisting of a sheet of overlay 0 and the sheet S tacked together. The carriage 15 now advances the tacked unit to a transfer station 20. A third transport carriage 21 extends from the transfer station 20, past a laminating station 22 to a punching-out station 23. The carriage 21 supports three pairs of horizontal gripping arms 24, each pair of which is arranged to grip the tacked units in an accurately locating manner. The mechanism 21,24 is designed to move three individual tacked units into four individual processing stations. The mechanism 21,24 moves each such unit from the transfer station 20 into the laminating station 22 and thence into the punching-out station 23 and removes scrap from the punching-out station into a scrap bin as indicated at 25 . The laminating station 22 is illustrated in Figure 6 and includes upper and lower heated platens which heat-seal the two sheets of each unit together under controlled heat and pressure cycles, whilst the outer periphery of each unit, which is outside the platens, is clamped at respective opposite sides thereof by respective pairs of grippers 26 of which the jaws 27 are heated to a temperature corresponding to that between the platens, to minimize relative thermal movement between the part of the laminate between the platens and the peripheral part of the laminate, to avoid buckling of the laminate on heating and cooling. The laminate is then transported to the punching-out station 23. Registration pins in the punching-out station 23 locate the laminate prior to cutting. The cut-out card falls through the punch base and is transported into a catch tray. The scrap frame of the laminate is transferred from the punching-out station 23 into the scrap bin indicated at 25. Figure 2 illustrates the general modules of a computer arrangement for analysing data (herein generally termed " foreground" ) to be placed in a card and also for the establishment of the background to be placed in the card. The arrangement divides into two main parts, one of which is concerned with establishing the background and its design. This is generally obtained by what is commonly known as windows-type programming . The other part o f the arrangement is the data processing which establishes the data desired to be put into the card and includes means for setting up alphanumeric data and positioning it in the framework of the card to be printed. The reference numeral 30 indicates broadly the menu controlling and security means for the programming of the arrangement . The arrangement actually incorporates a batch processing module 31 in which a sequence of foregrounds , such as a sequence of individuals' faces and alphanumeric symbols, are prepared for printing onto a sequence of sheets S; a data design module 32; an audit trail or statistical analysis facility for the operation of the machine and a module 34 which performs the design of the card and modifications according to requirements. A module 35 processes the required input data and this processing module also receives inputs from a module 36 for setting the frame formats of the desired print layout, a module 37 for the setting-up of artwork and a module 38 for recording signatures or other distinctive data. The outputs from all of the modules 30 to 34 and 36 to 38 are processed according to programme control in the data processing module 35 which produces an output which is utilised to drive the actual printing operation of the printing head 10. During the operation of the actual system, electrical and electronic interlocks are arranged to operate the sheet feed to its transport carriage 3, to transfer the sheet S to the shaft 5, to subject the sheet to the oscillatory motion to perform the three printing stages, namely the yellow, magenta and cyan (at which time the module 35 is arranged to feed the control signals for the printing head 10 to the printing head) , to transfer the printed sheet to the tacking station 16 (at the same time as the sheet is moved to the tacking station a fresh sheet to be printed is transferred to the printing station) , to operate the tacking station to produce a tacked unit, to transfer the tacked unit to the laminating station 22, to produce the laminating heat and pressure regime, to transfer the laminate to the punching- out station 23 and to transfer the scrap to the scrap bin. The system is constructed automatically to produce PVC cards of various shapes, sizes and thickness. In the production of the cards, a receiving substrate of PVC for example has images and variable data thermally transferred onto it and is then covered with an overlay of clear PVC for example and the obtained structure laminated under heat and pressure. The laminate is then punched to produce an ISO- type card. The invention is applicable to printing onto a wide variety of articles ; for example even such articles as drinking mugs can have personalised, plastics-covered, printed matter applied thereto, although the laminating would not be required with such articles . In the version illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, there is illustrated a single station at which the overlay 0 and the substrate S are brought together face-to-face, are heat-and pressure-laminated together and finally are severed . The substrate S is in the form of a continuous plastics strip guided through the station in lateral guides 40 . The overlay 0 is intermittently advanced from a supply reel 41 to a waste uptake reel 42 . A vertically reciprocable heated ram 43 is disposed above the gap between the guides 40 and is encircled by a ring-form cutter 44 with a ring- form knife edge 43. The cutter 44 is fixed to a vertically reciprocable support 46. Below the gap between the guides 40 i s a bl ock- form anvi l 47 which i s al so vert ical ly reciprocable . With the anvil 47 in its raised position, the ram 43 descends and heat-and pressure-laminates the overlay O to the substrate S, whilst the cutter 44 descends and cuts out the card from the laminate . The anvil 47 and the ram 43 then descend together to carry the card to below the guide s 40 , whereafter the anvi l 47 and the ram 43 separate to al low the cut-out card t o be removed f rom between them . Thi s arrangement has the advant age o f reducing the number of stations in the system and thus reducing the time period required for forming of each card and reducing the cost of the system. In an alternative version (not illustrated in detail) , the anvil 47 may be formed with holes 49 connected to a source of suction and for substrates pre-cut to card size to be fed in turn to the anvil 47 and there held in position by suction through the bores 49, whereafter the heated ram 43 is lowered to heat- and pressure-laminate the overlay 0 to the card-size substrate and the cutter 44 is lowered to sever the overlay 0 alone. In a further version, the ram 43 and the cutter 44 are of a smaller area than that of a card, so that only part of the area of the card is covered with the heat-and pressure- laminated overlay 0, in other words the overlay 0 extends for only a proportion of the area of the card and thus effectively forms a patch thereon . Thus , the card effectively becomes the cutting anvil for the overlay. The time/temperature control of the operation of the ram 43 is such as to melt only a few microns of the surface of the substrate . An advantage of using substrates S of the size of standard cards is that the substrates can be bought cheaply in bulk and that, compared with cutting-out of substrates, waste is avoided. Re ferring to Figure 9 , the plant includes a conventional lithographic or screen printer 100 in which rectangular sheets of substrate are each printed with background on one side with the background of a rectangular array of cards to be produced. A number of sheets are printed with obverse background and (i f required) an identical number of sheets are printed with reverse backgrounds . The substrate sheets are forwarded to a UV dryer 101 , where the printed inks on the sheets are activated by UV to accelerate drying. The sheets are then forwarded to a station 102 where magnetic tape is applied to the printed surface of the reverse sheet . Printed sheets from an image processor 104 and carrying personal details of the intended card user, such as a photographic portrait, are then registered and collated with the obverse and reverse substrates on a table 105 and there heat-tacked together with sheets of overlay (transparent sheet from 104) in the order transparent sheet /transparent overlay/obverse substrate/reverse substrate/transparent overlay, with the respective printed faces of the obverse and reverse substrates being there outer faces and the printed face of the transparent sheet being its inner face. A plurality of such assemblies of tacked-together sheets is then placed in a multiple laminator 106, with firmly conductive metal plates among them, in a vertical pile. Then the sheets in each assembly are heat-and pressure-sealed together in the laminator 106. Then each laminated assembly is forwarded to an automatic guillotining and punching station 107 in which each laminate is cut into strips each containing a single row of card areas and then the card areas are punched from each strip to provide the cards. The cards are then forwarded to an image verification station 108 when a code which is unique to the intended user and which has been printed at the image processor 104 in an ink which becomes visible under UV is read is cross-referenced with respect to a data storage system 108, whence information is obtained relating to that intended user and which is embossed on the card at an embossing machine 109 downstream of the station 108. From the embossing machine, the card is forwarded to a final, visual inspection station 110. In a possible alternative method of production, if the images supplied by the processor 104 are not required, the substrates may bypass the table 105 and instead be forwarded from the station 103 to a collation and lamination lay-up table 105' . Again, if holograms and/or signature panels are to be applied to the cards, this is carried out at a station 111 intermediate the station 107 and 108. The image processor 104 includes a reel 112 whence a transparent film 113 is supplied to a series of five printing stations 114 which respectively print simultaneously cyan, yellow, magenta, UV-visible ink, and black. After the last of the five printing stations, there is a cutter 115 for cutting the film 113 into sheets for registering and collating at the table 105. Figure 10 shows diagrammatically one of the printing stations 114. It includes a supply reel 116 and a take-up reel 117 for the ink membrane 118 for "dry" printing. The membrane 118 is guided over a plurality of rolls 119 rotatably mounted upon a retractable support plate 120. Between two of the rolls 119, the membrane 118 passes over a printing roll 121. The film 113 passes between the membrane 118 and the printing roll 121. Slidably removable relative to the plate 120 is a carriage 122 which mounts a cylinder 123 which is fixed to a bracket 124 which carries a printing head 125. A piston within the cylinder 123 is fixed to a piston rod 126 which is itself fixed to a stop 127 fixed to the plate 120. A helical compression spring 128 acts between the stop 127 and the printing head end of the bracket 128 to urge the printing head 125 to press against the printing roll 121. In Figures 11 and 12 the control device 130 controls the workings of the parallel processors 131, the static data store 132, the dynamic data store 133 and the data filters 134. The control device 130 is specifically designed to drive each thermal print head 114. The control device 130 may fit into a standard 16 bit AT bus slot (speeds up to 8MB/s) . Alternatively, it may be decided to implement the control device 130 as a PCI or VESA local bus board. The control device 130 will contain up to 10MB of high speed memory which can either be used to hold image data for yellow, magenta and cyan colour passes of a small (max. 1200 line) image or single colour data for a larger image. The first and last lines defining which part of the data loaded into memory will be printed are under software control and can be in the range 0-3600. Image data to be loaded into memory should be in the range 0-255 irrespective of the number of printing shades actually used. Thus a value of 128 will give a mid shade whether printing 64, 128 or 256 shades per colour pass. The parallel processors 131 are designed so that while one is sending data through the filters 134 to the printing heads 114 the other loads data from the two data stores 132, 133. Then the two processors 131 alternate roles. The two processors 131 act as double buffered memory devices. Enough high speed double buffered memory will be available to print on a seamless continuous process basis to five print heads 114 simultaneously. The store 132, a golden template, stores non-variable data (in the example of a card it would store the background) which is loaded to one of the processors 131. The other store 133 loads the variable data (in the example of a card it would store the foregrounds) to the same processor 131. This is then sent via the filters 134 to the printing heads 114. Since the sublimation response of some dyes is not uniform due to physical and chemical characteristics and the fact that the absorption pattern of dye combinations overlap at certain wavelengths an electronic filter 134 is included, to allow up to 256 software selectable burn time curves to modify the thermal response of the pixel heating elements (hence changing the build up of optical density) in real time as the data is sent to the head 114. The curves will contain the number of burn time clocks for each shade to be printed. The frequency of the burn time clock, being under software control enables a large range of burn times to be achieved. The electronic filter 134 may be stored in RAM or alternatively configured as a PROM. Either a PROM or RAM electronic filter 134 and supporting circuitry is provided in the control device 130 which allows the actual shade printed by each pixel to be altered for each shade (0-255) when read from the image RAM. Another filter 134 will be arranged as a 256 shade adjuster for each pixel. This allows pixel to pixel variations on the printhead to be compensated for. These observed pixel to pixel variations could be due to a number of causes, principally lack of printhead flatness and impedance variation. A further lookup table 134 is designed to correct differences between substrates S. The sensors 135 are designed to read the substrate S and start the printing at the correct time. The control device 130 has facilities 136 and 137 for remote 136 and local 137 interfacing to monitor the running of the controlled printing. These facilities include the ability to adjust the filters (134), override the running and check the status of any particular running of the printing.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Apparatus for producing a sequence of printed articles, characterised by means ( 34 ) for storing a range of backgrounds for images to be printed on the articles (S) , means (35) for selecting a background from the range, means (32) for establishing a sequence of foregrounds for said sequence of articles (S) , means (10, 35) for combining the selected background with at least selected ones of the sequence of foregrounds and printing subst ant ially simultaneously the selected background and the particular foreground required for the article on each article in turn. 2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said articles (S) comprise substrates (S) for cards and said foregrounds comprise respective differing identifying means whereby respective individual users of the cards are identified. 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said foregrounds comprise respective portraits of said users . 4. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3 , and further comprising means (3) for advancing a first layer (S) in the apparatus, and a printing station (4) whereat said means (10, 35) for combining and printing is to print one surface of said first layer (S) . 5. Apparatus according to claim 4 and further comprising a laminating station (22) whereat said first layer (S) and second layers (0) are to be laminated together with said one surface facing said second layer (0) . 6. Apparatus according to claim 5, and further comprising a severing station (23) whereat a printed section of the laminate is to be severed from said laminate to provide such card. 7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or 6, and further comprising a blanks supplying station (1) upstream of said printing station (4) and whereby the first layers (S) of the cards are supplied, and a tacking station (16) intermediate said printing station (4) and said laminating station (22) and whereat the second layers (0) are tacked to the respective first layers (S) . 8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said tacking station (16) comprises feeding means (16A) for feeding a strip (0) and cutting means (19) for cutting said second layers (0) from said strip (0) . 9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein said laminating station (22) comprises heating means for heating said first and second layers (S,0) to be laminated, first and second pressing heads for pressing the hot layers (S,0) between them, and external means (26) arranged externally of said pressing heads and serving to prevent the laminate produced from remaining adhered to either of the pressing heads. 10. Apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said external means (26) comprises at least one pair of grippers (26) . 11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, and further comprising second heating means for heating said external means (26) . 12. Apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 11, wherein said printing station (4) includes a shaft (5) a first portion (5') of the peripheral surface of which is of circular-cylindrical form and around which portion (5') said first layer (S) extends during printing, a layer-clamping device (6) anchored to the shaft (5) and extending along the shaft (5) at a second peripheral surface portion of the shaft (5) angularly displaced around the axis (A) of the shaft (5) relative to said first portion (5' ) and drive means arranged to oscillate said shaft (5) about its own axis. 13. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said printing station (4) further includes a printing head (10) extending along said shaft (5) and approximately tangentially to said first portion (5' ) and serving to present a die membrane (R) to the first layer (S) , a separator (12) extending along said shaft (5) between said shaft (5) and said head (10) and serving to keep said first layer (S) and said membrane (R) out of contact with each other until said first layer (S) and said membrane (R) arrive at the zone where said head (10) approaches closest to said first portion (5' ) . 14. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said laminating station includes cutting means ( 44 ) whereby a printed section of the laminate (S, 0) is to be severed from said laminate (S,0) to provide such card. 15. Apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein said laminating station includes a laminating ram (43) encircled by said cutting means (44) . 16. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said laminating station includes an anvil (47) upon which said substrates (S) of card size are placed in turn, laminating means (43) whereby said second layer (0) is laminated with said substrates (S) in turn, and cutting means (44) whereby a substrate-covering portion of said second layer (0) is severed from said second layer (O) to provide such cards. 17. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said anvil ( 47 ) is formed with suction bores (49) to enable the substrates (S) to be held by suction onto the anvil (47) . 18. A printing method, characterized by selecting a desired background to be printed, establishing a sequence of foregrounds to be printed in turn, and substantial ly simultaneously printing the selected background repetitively with the foregrounds in turn to produce a sequence of printed images all comprised of the selected background and respectively comprised of the foregrounds of the sequence. 19. A method according to claim 18 , wherein said foregrounds comprise differing identifying means whereby respective individual users of cards may be identified. 20. A method according to claim 19 , whe rein s aid foregrounds comprise respective portraits of said users . 21. A method according to claim 18, 19 or 20, and further comprising advancing a first layer (S) to a printing station (4) , at which one surface of said first layer (S) is printed with the selected background simultaneously with one of the foregrounds. 22. A method according to claim 21, and further comprising advancing said first layer (S) and a second layer (0) to a laminating station (22) whereat said one surface faces said second layer (0) , and laminating said first and second layers (S,0) . 23. A method according to claim 22 as appended to claim 19, and further comprising severing from the laminate a section thereof including printed matter to provide such card. 24. A method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, and further comprising clamping said first layer (S) to a support (5) at said printing station (4), and producing oscillatory relative motion between the support (5) and a printing head (10) to cause the first layer (S) to undergo a plurality of printing passes at said printing station (4) . 25. A method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, and further comprising advancing a die membrane (R) and said first layer (S) towards a printing location in said printing station (4), while keeping said membrane (R) and said first layer (S) separate until their bringing together at said printing location by separating means (12) therebetween extending to just short of said printing location. 26. A method according to claim 23, wherein said laminating and said severing are performed at said laminating station. 27. A method according to claim 22, and further comprising advancing said first layer (S) in the form of a substrate (S) of card size to said laminating station (22) and severing only said second layer (0) , thereby to provide a substrate-covering portion thereof laminated to said substrate (S) . 28. A method according to claim 27, wherein said substrate- covering portion is smaller in plan area than is said substrate (S) . 29. A method according to claim 22, 23, 26, 27, or 28, or claim 24 or 25 as appended to claim 22, wherein said first layer (S) is held by suction to a laminating anvil (47) at said laminating station (22) . 30. A method of producing a laminated card, comprising advancing a first layer (S ) to a printing station ( 4 ) , printing said first layer ( S ) at one surface thereof , advancing said first layer (S) and a second layer (0) to a laminating station (22) whereat said one surface faces said second layer (0) , laminating said first and second layers (S, 0) , and severing from said laminate a section thereof including printed matter to provide said card, characterised in that the advancing of the first and second layers (S, 0) , the laminating and the severing are performed automatically . 31. Apparatus for producing a laminated card, comprising a printing station (4) whereat one surface of a first layer (S) is to be printed, a laminating station (22) whereat said first layer (S) and second layers (0) are to be laminated together with said one surface facing said second layer (S) , and a severing means (23, 44 ) whereby a printed section of the laminate is severed from said laminate to provide said card, characterised in that the advancing of the first and second layers (S, 0) through the printing station (4) and the laminating station (22) and past the severing means (23; 44) performed automatically. 32. Printing apparatus , including a shaft (5) a first portion (5 ' ) of the peripheral surface of which is of circular-cylindrical form and around which portion (5' ) a sheet ( S ) t o be printed extends during print ing , characterised by a sheet-clamping device ( 6) anchored to the shaft (5) and extending along the shaft (5) at a second peripheral surface portion of the shaft ( 5 ) angularly displaced around the axis (A) of the shaft (5) relative to said first portion ( 5' ) , and drive means arranged to oscillate said shaft (5) about its own axis (A) . 33. A printing method, comprising advancing an article (S) to be printed to a printing station (4) and, clamping the art i cle ( S ) t o a support ( 5 ) at s aid st at ion ( 4 ) , characterised by producing oscillatory relative motion between the support (5) and a printing head (10) to cause the article (S) to undergo a plurality of printing passes at said station (4) . 34. Printing apparatus including a shaft (5) at least a portion (5 ) of the peripheral surface of which is of circular-cylindrical form and around which a substrate (S) to be printed extends during printing, a printing head (10) extending along said shaft (5) and approximately tangentially to said portion (5') of said peripheral surface and serving to present a die membrane (R) to said substrate (S) and drive means for turning said shaft (5) about its own axis, characterised by a separator (12) extending along said shaft (5) between said shaft (5) and said head (10) and serving to keep said substrate (S) and said membrane (R) out of contact with each other until said substrate (S) and said membrane (R) arrive at the zone where said head (10) approaches closest to said portion (5' ) . 35. Apparatus according to claim 34, wherein said drive means serves to oscillate said shaft (5) . 36. A printing method, comprising advancing a substrate (S) to be printed and a die membrane (R) towards a printing location, characterised by meanwhile keeping the substrate (S) and the membrane (R) separate until their bringing together at said printing location by separating means (12) therebetween extending to just short of said printing location. 37. Laminating apparatus, comprising heating means for heating layers (S,0) to be laminated, and first and second pressing heads for pressing the hot layers (S,0) between them, characterised by external means (26) arranged externally of said pressing heads and serving to prevent the laminate produced from remaining adhered to either of the pressing heads. 38. Apparatus according to claim 37, wherein said external means (26) takes the form of at least one pair of grippers (26). 39. Apparatus according to claim 38, and further comprising second heating means for heating the grippers (26) . 40. A laminating method, comprising applying an overlay (0) to a substrate (S) , forming a laminate of said overlay (0) and said substrate (S) using compression of said overlay (0) and said substrate (S) , and severing from said overlay (O) a substrate-covering portion in forming a card, characterised in that said substrate (S) is substantially of finished card size when said overlay (0) is applied thereto. 41. A method according to claim 40, wherein said substrate (S) is held by suction to an anvil during said forming and said severing. 42. A method according to claim 40 or 41, wherein said forming includes heating said overlay (0) and wherein the time/temperature relationship of said heating is such that no more than a few microns of the overlay-facing surface of said substrate (S) is melted. 43. A method according to any one of claims 40 to 42, wherein the plan area of said substrate-covering portion is less than -that of said substrate (S) . 44. A method according to claim 43, wherein said substrate- covering portion is just undersize relative to said substrate (S) . 45. A laminating method, comprising laminating together first and second layers (S,0) at a lamination station and severing a section of the laminate to provide a card, characterised in that said severing is also performed at said lamination station. 46. Laminating apparatus, comprising, laminating means (43 / 47) for laminating together first and second layers (S,0), and severing means (44) for severing a section of the laminate to provide a card, characterised in that said laminating means (43,47) and said severing means (44) are at a station common to both. 47. Apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said severing means (44) encircles a ram (43) of said laminating means (43,47). 48. Apparatus according to claim 46 or 47, wherein said laminating means (43,47) includes an anvil (47) formed with suction bores (49) . 49. A laminating method, comprising applying an overlay (0) to a substrate (S) , laminating said overlay (0) and said substrate (S) and severing from said overlay (0) a substrate-covering portion of said overlay, characterised in that said substrate (S) is not severed but instead acts as an anvil for said severing of said overlay (0) . 50. A printing apparatus comprising a plurality of printing stations (114) positioned in series along an intended path of an article to be printed characterised by a control device (13) common to said plurality and electronically connected to said printing stations (114) for actuating said heads simultaneously. 51. Apparatus according to claim 50, wherein at least one of said printing stations (114) is a dry printing station. 52. Apparatus according to claim 50 or 51, wherein said each printing station (114) prints different matter. 53. A printing apparatus, comprising at least one printing station (114), two data processors (131) in parallel, to alternately receive and send data to said at least one printing station (114) . 54. Apparatus according to claim 53 with said processors (131) fed by two stores (132, 133) one being a static store (132) for containing recurrent non-variable data and the other being a dynamic store (133) for containing variable data. 55. Apparatus for electronically controlled printing with data being adjusted by at least one filter (134) . 56. Apparatus according to claim 55, wherein said at least one filter (134) serves to correct printing head intolerance. 57. Apparatus according to claim 55, wherein said at least one filter (134) serves to correct substrate (S) changes. 58. Apparatus according to claim 55, wherein said at least one filter (134) serves to correct die changes. 59. A printing method comprising automatically advancing material to be printed through a series of printing stations (114), characterised in that one of said stations prints a substance only visible to the naked human eye when the substance is irradiated by UV light. 60. A method according to claim 59 where said at least one printing station (114) is a dry printing station. 61. A printing method comprising automatically advancing material to be printed through a series of printing stations (114), characterised in that one of said stations (114) prints an encodified mark particular to that material. 62. A method according to claim 61 where said mark is printed in a substance only visible to the naked eye when the substance is irradiated by UV light. 63. A method according to claim 61 or 62 where said at least one printing station (114) is a dry printing station.

Inventors: SIMMONDS JOHN ANDREW, STRICKLAND JAMES GERALD, SIMMONDS, JOHN, ANDREW, STRICKLAND, JAMES, GERALD
Applicants: SIMMONDS JOHN ANDREW, SOURCE VISION TECH LTD, STRICKLAND JAMES GERALD, SIMMONDS, JOHN, ANDREW, STRICKLAND, JAMES, GERALD, THE SOURCE VISION TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
Application year: 1994
Main classification: B41J29
IPC codes: B41F17, B41J29